Abstract:  Reflecting global trends towards food retail digitalisation, meal delivery platforms such as Uber Eats have operated in Belgium since at least 2016. These platforms enable registered food businesses to sell ready‐to‐eat meals online. How such partnerships impact the function of food businesses in urban areas is poorly understood. This is critical given concerns that meal delivery platform business models support unfair levels of competition between international food corporations and independent food businesses. Based on 21 in‐person interviews with the owners or managers of restaurants and takeaway food businesses, we describe how meal delivery is (re)shaping food retail in the region of Flanders, Belgium. Owners and managers informed us that meal delivery platform registration allows them to meet consumer demand. Nevertheless, online orders only supplement continued in‐person ordering and dining. During busy periods, food businesses prioritise customers visiting their brick‐and‐mortar location by temporarily removing themselves from meal delivery platforms. Furthermore, they typically pass on “excessive” and “unfair” meal delivery platform commission fees to consumers through inflated online prices. The evolution of meal delivery platforms has encouraged the development of dark kitchens, where meals are prepared inside non‐customer‐facing locations and sold exclusively online. Monitoring the development of these facilities and the broader meal delivery system is needed to understand implications for urban areas. Food accessibility measures and definitions should continue to include brick‐and‐mortar food business locations. They must also consider variation in availability and price across neighbourhood and digital food environments according to the time of day.

Keywords:  food environment; food retail; food systems; meal delivery platforms; qualitative research; urban planning

Published:   26 August 2025

Issue:   Vol 10 (2025): Understanding Change in Urban Food Environments: The Contemporary Challenges of Conceptualization, Definition, and Measurement (In Progress)